Authors: Penelope Fletcher
Our assemblage stood still for a
moment, before the panther got bored, and with a low catlike mewing
sound signaled us to move. He took the lead again. The lynx slinked
to his side, head still bowed in submission.
One look at Breandan’s face had me all
but pouting. “I guess you want to keep a hold on me now,” I said
gruffly and yanked on the end of my hair in irritation. I let my
abused throat roughen my voice to remind him to be gentle with
me.
A small smile played on his lips. “For
a little while.”
Grumbling to myself, I did not
hesitate to entwine my fingers with his. His skin glowed brighter
and he smiled. I felt my muscles unclench and a troublesome anxiety
that had gathered between my shoulder blades release. I relaxed and
sighed. Breandan seemed to be experiencing similar sensations,
since he closed his eyes and rolled his shoulders.
“
That is better,” he said,
satisfied, and tugged me along after him.
The were-cats traveled in front of us,
and the lynx pulled ahead, but the panther stayed close. Soon, I
saw small house like shapes up ahead, smoke, and I caught a faint
waft of cooking meat, sweat, and warm animal.
The moment we had come into sight of
the Pack Conall had moved in front of me and became somewhat
tense.
We drew closer to the heart of the
shifter Pride and I sensed may more beings around us. Their auras
were disquieted, violent, and unstable, as if they saw us as a
threat. I found it upsetting. The shifters caught our scent, a
mixture of fairy, shifter, fear, and blood. They paced in an eerily
catlike manner waiting for us to arrive.
We passed through unhindered, and I
wondered what would have happened if we had tried to come here
un-chaperoned.
The panther came to a stop before a
man and dipped his head low, made a rumbling sound at the back of
his throat and his tail hit the floor a few times.
Breandan shifted so he stood in front
of me, shielding my body. I craned my head to peek around
him.
I had thought Lochlann, Breandan’s
brother was big. This guy was massive, and there was nothing
delicate or soft about him. He towered over me and looked as solid
as a tree. Muscles were packed upon muscle, and he wore two things,
a strip of cloth around his waist that stopped mid thigh, and a
leather braid necklace around his thick neck. He was missing one
eye and a scar ran down from the top of his forehead to the tip of
his cheek over the closed lid. His brown hair was cut close to his
head, and his chin was strong, covered in a bushy beard.
The power and dominance radiating from
him named him as the Pride Alpha.
And he looked pissed.
“
Alec, shift,” he
commanded.
The were-panther lay down on its side
and writhed in the dirt and patchy grass. I watched, morbidly
fascinated by the Change. Soon, I wished I had not. There was no
smoke, or graceful movements. No instant shift from animal to
human. It was horrible and ugly. At one point, the panther was a
deformed mass of quivering, convulsing flesh. Its jet-black fur
seemed to shrink back into its skin, which smoothed out to become
human like. The mess that had been the panther groaned; half human
half animal. I shuddered and cringed into Breandan who wrapped his
arms around me. I pressed my eyes shut and buried my head into his
solid chest. I could smell blood, sweat, and something floral, but
pungent to the point my nose burned. The heat coming from where the
shifter was changing was immense; like a fire raged nearby. There
was a thick, glooping sound, a crack, and snap of bone followed by
the lush tearing of muscle.
I put my fingers in my ears and
plugged my nose by holding my breath. A minute passed and I thought
my lungs would burst. Breandan pulled one of my hands down and
nudged my chin up with the other. I peeked an eye open and was
rewarded with the sight of a muscular and naked boy crawling his
way toward me.
He nudged his head into my hand.
Flustered, I patted him twice, cringing as I did so then stepped
back. He blinked up at me, and I recognized the colour of his
irises, even if they were a different shape.
“
Sorry,” he said, raspy.
“It takes a while for my brain to think, human and not
cat.
“
Rae,” I blurted.
“Hai.”
He smiled and stood, up. He wobbled
for a moment, but once he had steadied his legs, he held out his
hand. “Alec,” he said.
I stared at the hand, then
him.
“
Oh right,” he said and his
eyes touched on my wings, ears and tail. “I forget you fairies
don’t like touching much, do you. You seemed okay with me when I
was a panther though.”
I was having a hard time. I tried to
speak but all that came out was a squawk resembling agreement. A
young girl passed Alec a pair of trousers and he thanked her as he
jumped into them.
“
She is new to this life,”
Breandan said over the awkward silence.
The shifter-boy shrugged. “No problem.
We do not Change in front of strangers often. I know it can be
scary. I’m okay now, honest.” He smiled at me and I
relaxed.
Hesitantly, I smiled back. “It looked
like it hurt.”
He laughed a loud guffaw. “That’s one
way to put it.”
“
It wasn’t like I thought….
I mean, I can take my glamour off now without any pain. Is it like
that every time?”
“
Yeah, sucks
y’know.”
I grinned at his use of slum speak.
“You’re a dwell?”
“
I was,” he said. “Until a
full moon had me sprouting fur and a tail one season eight years
ago. I can tell you, the neighbors were not pleased. Clerics came
for me, of course, but I was long gone.”
I nodded gravely. “How did you get
past the Wall?”
“
Byron found me. He smelt
me on a run and found me pacing the fence. What about
you?”
Alec confirmed the man standing before
us was the Alpha, Byron, not that any of the other shifters looked
like they could match him. He watched us carefully, taking our
measure. His nostrils flared, mouth pulled back in a grimace. He
seemed to almost be fronting us, goading us on. I looked up at
Breandan, who had been silent throughout this entire exchange; his
gaze was locked with the Alpha’s. Was he mad? We needed to get
these shifters to help us, not put their backs up. I elbowed him in
the ribs but he did not acknowledge me.
So I was distracted when I said
without thinking, “I was a Disciple–” Alec’s sharp intake of breath
had me cringing at my careless words and shaking my head at the
suspicion no doubt taking root in his mind. “No, I’m not here to
hurt you. You see what I am.” My tail flicked from side to side as
proof I was like him, demon. “I was a Disciple who wandered too far
into the forest. I got past the Wall and got lost. I saw–” I
stopped there for Breandan squeezed me. I sighed, “The rest is a
complicated story I don’t think I have time to tell considering
Breandan and your Alpha are having a non blinking
contest.”
Alec looked between them. “Best we
don’t get involved.” He reached to take my hand, but I flinched,
and this did reach Breandan through his focus since he hissed
quietly.
Byron growled and it all got very
tense.
Conall stepped forward and held up his
palms. His presence was solid, calming and he bobbed his head
respectfully towards Byron.
“
You know me, Alpha. We
have crossed paths before and parted as friends. Why do you act
so?”
The older man’s face twisted briefly.
“I remember you well, Conall. A fine talker you are, but also a
fine warrior. If the fairies were to attack, would they not send
the strongest of you to test us? Would they not sniff out our
weakness?”
Conall seemed taken aback. “Why would
you think such a thing? We have no quarrel with you.”
Byron laughed; a big-bellied laugh
that would have you think he had not a care in the world had his
words not held such bitterness. It was then he took his eyes from
Breandan and looked at my brother. “Do you not? Has that fairy-lord
of yours stopped shooting bolts of fire at my kind if we dare enter
the woods?”
“
It is not what you think.”
Conall sounded tired. “We have broken, Byron. The High Lord has
lost his mind and we are fighting him.”
“
Devlin is gone,” I said
before Conall could speak again. “He’s gone and we’re hunting
him.”
Byron ignored me. “You mean to kill
him, Conall?”
I tossed my head. “No. I
do.”
There was a long-suffering sigh from
the fairy-boy beside me.
Byron’s eyes twitched to me, and he
cocked his head. He smiled flashing teeth sharp and yellowed. He
scratched at his graying beard. “You? Such a small
thing.”
“
A small and fierce thing,”
Alec added and winked at me.
“
Why are you here?” Byron
asked Conall outright.
My brother looked at me and I
shrugged. It seemed the Alpha had a hard time speaking to
me.
“
As Rae said, we hunt
Devlin and his followers. He has taken something important and we
need it back.”
Byron picked up on what he did not
say. “You have broken off your hunt to come here, meaning your own
tracking has failed.”
“
Devlin had worked a spell.
I cannot see past it. We need your skills to find the right
way.”
Byron seemed to think this funny. “You
fairies, so proud and bold to come here and ask for our help … the
felines who roll in the mud.”
Conall’s face was pained. “The words
you echo are the opinions of one fairy that is mad. Can you not see
and accept that, Alpha? It seems for all your talk you want
something from us. If you did not want us here you could have
refused to speak and had your sentries escort us off your Pride.
Speak quick and plainly. We do not have time for games.”
Byron’s face darkened. “You think such
a speech will affect me?”
“
Can we cut this out?” I
asked and stepped forward. “We are literally traveling in circles.
The day is wasting and if you won’t help we need to go.”
Though we could see in the dark,
Breandan had told me fairies tracked better during the daylight
hours, when we were strongest. We were wasting time batting words
back and forth.
“
Tell them, Bryon.” Alec
blurted unable to control himself. “They could help.”
The Alpha’s head whipped round, neck
muscles bulging. “Silence, youngling.”
Alec visibly snapped his jaw shut and
seemed unable to open his mouth again. He made a small sound of
repent and hung his head. I felt an inexplicable urge to stoke him
to make him feel better.
“
Alec is right,” I said in
the charged silence. “If you are in trouble, or need assistance of
some kind I’m sure we could help.”
I tentatively slanted a look at
Breandan to check I was not speaking out of turn. His face was
impassive and as readable as a stone slab.
The Alpha chose to ignore me, looking
past me as if I was not even there.
“
Come now, Alpha. You
disrespect our female and behave sullen and you know I cannot allow
it. Can we not move past this? You’re making a small bargain
difficult.”
Byron suddenly looked old and weary.
“You say I am sullen and difficult, but why should I be easy? I
have no sons and my daughters have been taken. My line has ended
and I have to remain strong for my Pride. You fairies and your
squabbles have hurt my people. The vampires are simply mad, and
goblins care for nothing and no one. We fight to keep the evils of
the witches at bay, yet still they manage to curse us from afar.
The humans hunt us like rabid beasts, and other shifter packs are
hostile toward us. Tell me, why should I not be sullen and
difficult?” His voice took on a sudden and intimidating edge. “And
I smell you have spilled blood on my territory.”
The reaction of the Pride rippled
outward and soon there was a mixture of open distrust and calls for
retribution for the fallen Pack mate. The shifters crowded around
us and called for Breandan’s death. Some, so overcome with rage
fell to the ground and Changed. The Pride was filled with heat, and
cries of agony, as they morphed from human to animal.
These demons were like nothing I had
experienced before. They were primitive and hungry for violence.
Clutching Breandan by the waist, I glared at anyone bold enough to
make eye contact.
Breandan was calm, silent, and simply
held Byron’s gaze. Conall buzzed beside me and only then did I
realize Alec had left us and had a hand on his Alpha’s shoulder.
The muscles in his arms were taut and he murmured low in the man’s
ear the tone of his voice urgent.
Byron stamped his meaty foot and
shouted, “Silence!”
The Pack immediately fell silent.
Those in human form shied away, swelling away from him. Some of the
were-cats whimpered, and pressed their ears to their heads. This
Pack knew to respect their Alpha.
“
Speak fairy,” Byron said.
“I give you leave to move freely in my land and you draw blood.
Enrage my Pack–”